So my girl’s grandpa passed away last month and this is a bike that we used to talk about when he was alive. Haven’t had that much info about how he got it, but the last thing he told me about the bike that he just bought it in his late years. Somebody told me its a swallow but the logo of the badge just looks similar. Im leaning towards that its a knock off bike but i may be wrong, any thoughts?
by No-Day-7672
2 Comments
It’s the cheap Japanese Swallow of the 1960s. Someone also lathered on a pretty sloppy paint job there too.
There’s another Swallow that makes custom bikes.. this isn’t it.
It’s Araya’s “Tsubame” brand:
[https://www.proteanpaper.com/scart_results.cgi?comp=howiebik&framed=0&part=NP-s-923&scat=1&scatord=desc&scatall=no&skey=norm&srkeyall=&srkeywords=&srcateg=000000000000000142](https://www.proteanpaper.com/scart_results.cgi?comp=howiebik&framed=0&part=NP-s-923&scat=1&scatord=desc&scatall=no&skey=norm&srkeyall=&srkeywords=&srcateg=000000000000000142)
http://cyclespeugeot.web.fc2.com/reminiscence/japanmadebike.htm
I have another Araya made bicycle, a 1982 “Araya Mountain Bike”. It has the same headbadge shape and lines, top and bottom. Then, as now, multiple different brands would be made in the same factory.
The Araya headbadge circa: 1982
[https://velobase.com/ListHeadBadges.aspx?Headbadge_Type=Plastic%20Attached&BrandView=4ccbfef0-c9c0-4048-b976-bdce15e60efc](https://velobase.com/ListHeadBadges.aspx?Headbadge_Type=Plastic%20Attached&BrandView=4ccbfef0-c9c0-4048-b976-bdce15e60efc)
My guess would be that the Tsubame / Araya your grandpa had would have been made shortly before my 1982 Araya.